Enhanced with new options and more accuracy (geocentric positions etc.) by Robert von Heeren in March 2003

Attention: modern browsers increased their restrictions regarding older java and flash plugins drastically. In case your browsers prevents you from loading the 3D orbit applet go to system settings, open java module, click on tab security and add the full URL of this page. Save and close it. Restart the browser and reload this page. It should be allowed then. The applet poses no security risk.

3D-orbit for minor planet _ 2001 XZ255

Use the horizontal scrollbar to rotate, use the vertical scrollbar to flip the 3D-view.Move the zoom-scrollbar to the right to increase the zoom into the inner solar system or to the left to decrease the zoom.
0° Aries or vernal equinox is where the red line points to, on default it points to the left side.When you activate 'Zodiac Grid' you get the ecliptic plane divided into the twelve equal 30°-sections of the zodiac.Zodiac color-code: red for fire-signs, green for Earth-signs, yellow for air-signs and blue for water-signs.When you move the zoom-scrollbar to the left then you see the zodiac-abbrev.Object Nodes: the intersection of the object's orbit plane with Earth's orbit plane is shown. 'South node' => object intersects fom south to north, 'North node' => object crosses Earth's plane from northern to southern latitude.Object Apsides: the orbit points where the object's orbit has its farthest distance from the Sun (called Aphelion) or nearest distance towards the Sun (called Perihelion) are shown.Object's Apogee/Perigee: the orbit points where the object's orbit has its farthest distance from Earth (called Apogee) or nearest distance towards Earth (called Perigee) are shown.An underscore at the beginning of a provisional designation means that it has no MPC-catalog number yet.

In case of minor planets you can search either by number or name/designation. The query tries to find an exact match first, if it fails it gives you the first object which contains your search phrase (except for numbers).The search is case-insensitive.In case you search for a comet then you can enter its full name like '1P/Halley' or just its number '1P/' but don't forget the slash.Comets: Please enter a comet designation like e.g. '1P/Halley'. 'Halley' will find an asteroid not the comet.If you want to find a new comet like for example C/NEAT (2002 V1) then please leave the brackets just enter: C/NEAT 2002 V1.Note: To view and run this java-applet a java virtual machine must be enabled and security zone should be set to middle or lower.Please be patient and wait some time until the java archive is loaded. If you get no applet your browser's java virtual machine may need an upgrade to the latest version.You can download it at java.sun.com: .

When you click on the date-button, a small popup input box appears in the upper left corner of your screen (sometimes barely visible)!